Mexico to delay oil auction after recent big find in Gulf of Mexico

Mexico’s oil regulator CNH (Comision Nacional de Hidrocarburos) has decided to postpone its next oil auction for a month to allow bidders to digest the import of a recent huge find in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Bloomberg.

The find, announced on July 12, was announced by a three-party consortium comprising Houston-based Talos Energy, UK company Premier Oil and Mexico outfit Sierra Oil and Gas.

This shallow-water discovery at the Zama-1 well in Block 7 is estimated to contain between 1bn and 2bn barrels of oil equivalent.

That discovery was followed shortly after by the announcement from Italian firm Eni that its March find in the Gulf had a potential 1bn barrels.

Originally the next deep-water auction had been planned for December but it will now be in January 2018.

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.